Type Rating Knowledge — Cessna 172S NAV III
Lighting systems
Prefer to read? Open the reference page →
1 / 18
Where the lights are
Exterior lighting is a short list, and it is worth knowing by position rather than by name. Navigation lights are on the two wing tips and on the TIP OF THE VERTICAL STABILIZER — three of them, not two. The landing and taxi lights are both in the LEFT wing leading edge. The flashing beacon is on top of the vertical stabilizer, and there is a strobe on each wing tip. Two courtesy lights are recessed into the lower surface of each wing to light the door areas. Everything except the courtesy lights is switched from the LIGHTS group on the lighted switch panel to the left of the PFD, where up is on.
- ELECTRICAL BUS 1 — Primary bus 1. The POH groups the lighting breakers by bus, and BEACON and LAND sit on this one.
- ELECTRICAL BUS 2 — Primary bus 2. TAXI, NAV and STROBE sit on this one — so a bus is not a set of lights that look alike, it is a set of breakers.
- BEACON CB — Beacon circuit breaker, on the lighted breaker panel below the PFD. ELECTRICAL BUS 1.
- LAND CB — Landing light circuit breaker. ELECTRICAL BUS 1.
- PANEL LTS CB — The breaker the POH names for an INTERIOR lighting failure. Its bus is not stated in §7, so this diagram does not claim one.
- TAXI CB — Taxi light circuit breaker. ELECTRICAL BUS 2.
- NAV CB — Navigation light circuit breaker. ELECTRICAL BUS 2.
- STROBE CB — Strobe light circuit breaker. ELECTRICAL BUS 2.
- LIGHTS SWITCHES — The LIGHTS group on the lighted switch panel left of the PFD — BEACON, LAND, TAXI, NAV, STROBE. Up is on.
- DOME/COURTESY SW — Push-button switch on the pilot’s overhead console. It is one switch for TWO sets of lights: the rear dome light and the under-wing courtesy lights.
- DIMMING KNOBS — The DIMMING group on the switch panel: SW/CB PANELS, PEDESTAL, AVIONICS and STBY IND. Fully counter-clockwise is off.
- BEACON — Flashing beacon on top of the vertical stabilizer.
- LANDING LIGHT — Landing light in the LEFT wing leading edge, alongside the taxi light.
- TAXI LIGHT — Taxi light, also in the left wing leading edge — but breakered on the other bus.
- NAV LIGHTS — Navigation lights on the wing tips and on the tip of the vertical stabilizer.
- STROBES — A strobe on each wing tip. Not to be used in cloud or overcast — reflected flashes can produce vertigo.
- MAP LIGHT — Chart light and rheostat on the underside of the pilot’s control wheel. It only works once the NAV light switch is ON.
- FLOOD LIGHTS — Two dimmable front crew flood lights in the overhead console, rotatable for directional lighting.
- PANEL LED LIGHTING — Internally lit LED switch panel, breaker panel, engine controls, environmental panel and pedestal strips.
- DOME + COURTESY — Rear dome light and the two courtesy lights recessed into the lower surface of each wing, lighting the door areas.